Nestled at the entrance of the Woodford Folk Festival, ‘Pupa’ is designed as a welcoming, cool, and shady space for people to meet friends and family before venturing into the festival grounds. A large woven pavilion made entirely from locally sourced bamboo, the structure is scaled to offer respite from the hot weather while encouraging exploration and engagement with the organic structure woven by Woodford Folk Festival’s Special Projects volunteers. Under the artistic direction of Juan Pablo Pinto, the Cave Urban team trained a cohort of volunteers with diverse backgrounds and ages. Team members learned how to harvest and prepare bamboo and build with it using simple splitting and binding techniques. ‘Pupa’ took four weeks from bamboo harvesting to completion, a short timeframe considering the scale and craft-intensive nature of the project. Key to the construction process was the simplicity of the techniques, making the community-building process inclusive. Individuals without prior bamboo construction experience could learn and contribute, fostering a symbiotic relationship in which effort and time are exchanged for education. ‘Pupa’ comprises two interwoven vaulted spaces, a 5.5 meter high dome connecting to a larger 7 meter high ring space. The larger space is characterized by the arching roof structure made from bundles of bamboo that spring up from the ground, resembling an inverted fig flower. A free-flowing weave pattern covers the pavilion’s roof and sides, filtering the light through and creating a dappled effect akin to a bamboo forest, resulting in shifting and changing patterns of shade during the day. At night, the woven structure transforms into a giant amber lantern, inviting visitors to the festival’s nocturnal activities. Festival structures often generate significant waste and carbon emissions. The ephemeral nature of festivals demands their structures to be single-use or reusable, minimizing the impact on the environment. To this end, Cave Urban has collaborated with international bamboo experts to develop a series of bamboo construction techniques. These techniques facilitate the construction of large temporary structures using natural materials and engaging local communities. For this project, the bamboo was untreated, embodying the material’s inherent temporality. The structure has a life cycle of 2-5 years, aligning with the natural life cycle of bamboo, which takes 3-5 years to mature. When ‘Pupa’ decomposes and returns to the forest floor, new bamboo shoots can be harvested for the next structure, allowing for a continuous renewal and regeneration of the landscape. Special thanks to Taiwanese artist Wang Wen-chi for his artistic talent, generosity, and guidance.
Project Information:
Architect: Cave Urban
Area: 450m²
Project Year: 2024
Photographers: Jed Long, Cave Urban, Marek Knappe, Juan Pablo Pinto
Lead Architect: Juan Pablo Pinto
Design Team: Nici Long, Jed Long, Mercurio Alvarado, Lachlan Brown
Engineers: Event Engineering, Jeremy Sparks
Construction Team: Woodford Folk Festival Volunteers led by Cave Urban
Bamboo Sourcing: Crystal Waters Eco Village, Earthcare Farm & Nursery (Hans Erken)
Location: Woodford, Australia
